Legendary League of Legends mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was named the Shanghai-Seoul esports ambassador by T1 and the esports tournament Shanghai Masters earlier today. He’ll be the guest of honor of the Chinese government-sponsored tournament that will be hosted on Nov. 28. His teammates will be invited as well.
For Faker, this is more of an honorific title than an official status. He’s one of the most famous esports players in the world and the face of esports in South Korea. It simply means that he’ll attend esports events in Shanghai as a special guest.
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Shanghai Masters is an esports event that will host tournaments for League of Legends, Overwatch, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. It’s co-sponsored by the Shanghai Sports General Association and Shanghai Jingan District Government.
The teams, made up of invited region-based players, will compete at the Shanghai Xin Jing’an Sports Center on Nov. 28. It’ll be part of a government program aimed at making Shanghai the “world esports capital.”
For example, the North American team for the League event, Team Eagle, will feature Jonathan “Westrice” Nguyen, Brian “TheOddOne” Wyllie, Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani, David “Cop” Roberson, Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo, and Daerek “LemonNation” Hart.
T1 won’t play in this tournament, but they’ll be invited to attend the event and meet the Chinese community until Dec. 2. Since T1’s 2020 roster hasn’t been announced yet, it’s unclear which players will come alongside Park “Teddy” Jin-seong and Faker. Coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun, jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min, and top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha’s contracts with T1 expired at the end of the season.
Clid has since joined Gen.G and Moon “Cuzz” Woo-Chan has been signed as T1’s new jungler, but kkOma and Khan’s teams for the upcoming season haven’t been announced yet.
